LATE ROMANS IN 28MM

◗ wargamesatlantic.com ◗ £25

Wargames Atlantic have released their Late Roman Infantry set and it’s pretty flexible.That’s handy because‘Late Roman’ covers a fairly impressive time slot: the legions underwent significant expansion and changes through Diocletian and Constantine’s reforms but by the late 6th century look like very different chaps to their earlier incarnations. Still, the legionaries fought across the whole of the Roman world against Pict and Irish raiders in Britannia, Vandals in North Africa, Sassanid Persians in Mesopotamia, and the never-ending onslaught of migrating Germanic and Hunnic tribes. So flexibility is what you need and this is reflected in the box Wargames Atlantic have produced.

This hard plastic set comes spread over six identical sprues, each of which has four torsos, all in Lorica hamata. I counted 18 different heads including a standard bearer with a lion pelt (or some similar dead animal) and a bare head, and sets of different helmet and hat types feature, with the Niedebieber, ridge, and Spangenhelm styles along with the fur“Panonnian”cap. Additionally, there are two types of separate crest options to add to helmets.

Equipment wise, they come with a short spear, spatha, and plumbata options (both throwing them plus all have a rack clipped inside their large, round shields). There are two types of standards (both a Draco and a pennant type). The box allows the gamer to build up 24 legionaries and the support material implies that it can also be used to create armoured Goths, Burgundians, Saxons, Franks, and the Romano-British (among others).

If you are building an army you can buy them in multiples for a saving (ten boxes for £190, for example). They come out at about 29mm tall when assembled. Recommended.